Freshman David Punch set a new career high with 19 points as TCU snapped a three-game losing streak in a 68-57 win over Colorado on Sunday in Fort Worth, Texas.
Noah Reynolds scored 11 points and Jace Posey chipped in nine points for the Horned Frogs (11-10, 4-6 Big 12).
Andrej Jakimovski led the Buffaloes with 13 points. Bangot Dak tallied nine points and 12 rebounds for Colorado (9-12, 0-10) which has dropped 10 straight games and hasn’t won since Dec. 21.
Colorado had 19 turnovers, which led to 28 TCU points. The Buffaloes commit the most turnovers in the Big 12 at 15 per game. The Horned Frogs only turned it over eight times Sunday.
The Horned Frogs led 53-48 when they went on a decisive 15-2 second-half run to pull away. Punch’s 3-pointer with 2:23 left in the game gave TCU a 68-50 lead.
Colorado started the game on an 8-0 run and shot 7-of-9 from the floor. Punch notched a layup coming out of a TCU timeout at the 16:55 mark to snap the Buffaloes’ run.
Later in the half, the home team battled back and took its first lead at 26-24 with 4:20 left in the first half on Posey’s corner 3-pointer.
As Vasean Allette sliced through the lane, his teardrop layup over two defenders gave the Horned Frogs a 32-27 lead. TCU closed the first half on a 16-3 run to take a 34-27 halftime lead.
TCU opened the second half with Brendan Wenzel’s 3-pointer made it a 10-point margin.
With a 9-3 run that Sebastian Rancik punctuated with a layup, Colorado cut the TCU lead to 40-36 with 16:28 to play. Dak flushed home an alley-oop pass from Jakimovski and Colorado pulled within 51-46 as the clock ticked below 10 minutes.
But the turnover bug hit the Buffalos again as Punch hit a 3-pointer and then a dunk off Ernest Udeh Jr.’s steal for a 58-48 lead with 6:42 left in the game.
–Field Level Media
